


Gladiolus

by ShyCourage



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Caspar is also dumb, Hanahaki Disease, Linhardt is ths smart one, M/M, The gays kiss, and are in love, as always, but he's also irredeemably stupid in his own way, but hes adorable so it works out, oh yeah!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:24:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyCourage/pseuds/ShyCourage
Summary: Infatuation suffocated him. Literally, since that's what the flowers mean.Aka Linhardt has hanahaki and Caspar has no idea why his friend suddenly switched from researching crests to researching flowers
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Linhardt von Hevring
Comments: 2
Kudos: 98





	Gladiolus

**Author's Note:**

> If you know who the authors of the book excerpts are supposed to be then you earn a cookie! I recently fell into this ship and i can't stop lolol

One petal. One tiny, half grown blue petal. Funny, thinking back on it, how that started this all.

Linhardt had, at the time, figured it was nothing to worry about. Perhaps he swallowed such a flower on accident. Of course, he couldn't remember doing so, but that didn't mean that he hadn't. He coughed it up, looked at it, brushed it off of his pillow, and went back to sleep.

Later, when he was more awake, he wondered. Wondered about how that could have possibly happened, why that had happened, but ultimately decided that he would only look into it should more occurrences happen. And he doubted that there would be more occurrences.

There weren't more, either, for approximately a week. He had been sitting in the library, as he could generally be assumed to be, pouring over a book on crest research, when he started coughing. It was a painful, gasping cough, of the kind that made him worry that he might never regain his breath. He did eventually manage to force the petal from his throat, and he plucked it out of his mouth, examining it. 

The petal itself was a bright blue, and if it weren't drenched in saliva it would have had softly elegant ruffles. That was the moment he decided to turn his attention from his crest research for a while and instead focus on the studies of plant life.

-

"Gladiolus. Occasionally called the sword lily, this is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family. Gladiolus flowers bloom on a two to four foot long spike. They prefer well drained soil and full sun. Symbolizing strength and moral integrity, gladioli also represent infatuation, with a bouquet conveying to a recipient that they pierce the giver's heart with passion."

Excerpt from "Fódlan's plants and what they mean" by Sir Sergey von Google

-

Linhardt chewed on the most recent petal he had coughed up, contemplating. According to the books he had read, gladiolus flowers are edible, so he had no worries about indulging one of his few nervous habits. They tasted a bit like lettuce, if he was being entirely honest with himself.

He had managed to identify the type of flower, but the question of how and, more importantly, why they were somehow in his lungs still begged an answer. The coughing fits had slowly and steadily gotten worse over the past two weeks that he had been researching, and he was worried for how bad it might get.

He was jolted from his thoughts by a cough behind him. He turned, glancing up. Caspar.

"Hey there! So, when's the last time you ate something, huh?" Caspar was grinning and entirely too loud, as per usual. Like some sort of over grown puppy.

Linhardt sighed. "You can quiet down. Please. As for when I last ate… What day of the week is it, again?"

Caspar sighed, probably more than a bit upset at Linhardt ignoring his promise to take care of himself already. "Come on, man, you gotta eat! Let's go grab something really quick, and then you can take your books and go outside with me!"

"I would rather not." He turned back to his book. He was reading the same sentence over and over again, too distracted by Caspar's presence to actually take in the information, but Caspar didn't need to know that.

Caspar huffed, Linhardt assumed in defeat. He didn't turn from his book, but after a few seconds he wondered what in the world Caspar was doing, since he heard no retreating footsteps. 

"Hey, close your book."

Linhardt started a bit, surprised. "Excuse me? I am reading this, and have made it rather clear that I have no intentions of going with you."

Linhardt could practically hear Caspar shrug behind him, letting out a small half protest when Caspar reached around him and closed the book, making sure that his page was marked. "What are you do-" Linhardt was cut off when Caspar turned his chair and scooped him out, bridal style.

"You're gonna eat, even if you don't want to break from your research." Caspar glanced at the book and the petals surrounding it, letting out a surprisingly thoughtful hum. "What's so interesting about some flowers, anyway?"

Linhardt shrugged, deeming it not worth his time to try explaining, and instead curled into Caspar, losing himself to sleep.

-

"Hanahaki disease is a rare disease caused by unrequited love. The symptoms are coughing, coughing up flower petals, flower growth in the lungs, and eventual suffocation due to the plant growth. As of current, there have been less than one hundred confirmed cases, and no confirmed cure. The current theory is that a saliva exchange between they who are in love and they who are loved can act as a cure, but there is no way to either prove or disprove such a statement."

Excerpt from "An Anthology of Diseases" by Sir Larry von Google

-

It was getting worse. Usually it was slow going, but every time Linhardt was around Caspar it got worse far faster. It didn't take a genius to put together what that meant, but Linhardt was still hesitant to bring it up.

He was laying down near the fishing pond, staring at the clouds and thinking over this Hanahaki. The supposed cure was simple, Caspar laying barely an arms length away from him, and yet it was still so difficult. The very definition of the disease was "unrequited love," and unrequited meant that his feelings weren't returned. He didn't want to make poor Caspar uncomfortable, didn't want to shatter the friendship that they had grown since they were six. Surely there had to be another way to cure it.

He felt the cough coming on, the same cough he had tried to hide from his friend since it had developed, but was too busy thinking to notice exactly what it meant. The coughing fit that he had this time was the worst yet, and he rolled on to his side and curled up as he hacked and coughed, trying to get the flowers out of his lungs. He shook terribly, gasping for air when he could but never quite getting any, the plants blocking it from getting into his lungs. 

Caspar was patting Linhardt's back with what would otherwise be deemed more force than necessary, asking him if he was okay and then realizing that perhaps expecting an answer was foolish. Linhardt could almost feel the waves of concern rolling off Caspar, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Linhardt finally coughed out a large handful of gladiolus flowers, the blue wads of petals landing unceremoniously on the ground in front of his face. He rolled on to his back, panting heavily. Even then, he didn't feel as though he was getting enough air, probably because of the plant growth in his lungs. 

"Lin? Linhardt? Are you alright, what was that?"

Linhardt struggled for a bit longer before he could manage to speak, and even then, his speech was rather weak. "I'm... It's... It's called hanahaki, if I'm pronouncing it right."

Caspar frowned, picking up a flower that had escaped Linhardt's lungs whole and examining it. "Is there any way to fix this? Like, how do you get rid of this?"

Linhardt coughed again, not because of the flowers this time. "Well… There is one way that's been assumed to be a cure…"

"Oh, awesome! What is it?"

Linhardt groaned. This was going to be difficult. "Well, hanahaki is caused by unrequited love. The cure is supposedly an, well, an exchange of saliva between the one who's in love and the one who's loved."

While Linhardt had a delicate blush dusting his face, Caspar was beaming. "Oh, so you like someone and this'll all be cured when you kiss 'em? Easy! So who do you like?"

Linhardt just stared at Caspar, for all the good that would do. Once the silence streched long enough, he sighed and let his eyes fall shut, throwing his arm over them to block out all light.

"Oh, I know! It's the Professor, isn't it?"

Linhardt slowly moved his arm and cracked open one eye, if only so he could send an incredulous look in Caspar's direction. "No, it's not the Professor."

"Uh…" Caspar thought for a few seconds. "Oh! Flayn? I know you both like fish! And she's all small and cute. You two would probably be cute together."

"What? No. No, it's not Flayn. If it was, then I would either die by these flowers or I would die by Seteth's hand."

"Then who is it?" 

Linhardt stared at Caspar, as though he was willing the answer into his head via telepathy. Unfortunately, that's not how magic works. "It's… Are you serious right now?"

Caspar laughed a little. "Yeah, it's kind of a surprise, me being serious for once, but-"

"It's you," Linhardt stated, cutting the other off. "It's you, Caspar, and that's why I said nothing. Do you understand, now?"

Caspar was now blushing almost as much as Linhardt was, but he nodded. "I understand. That means that I," he swallowed, wet his lips, "uh, may i kiss you? If that's what'll save you, and considering that you pretty much just said you love me, and I've known for a while that I love you, so. May I?" He sounded nervous, shaky. Scared.

Linhardt didn't move, didn't say anything, just laid there, shocked. Caspar loved him back…? What a turn of events. Then he started coughing again, more flowers tickling at the inside of his lungs, growing up his throat, trying to escape, looking for sunlight. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't do anything but choke and blink until the tears stinging at his eyes finally fell. Until he could breathe again. Until he felt chapped lips pressing gently against his own, a tongue cautiously licking its way into his mouth. 

Caspar pulled away, blushing harder than before. "Linhardt, can you breathe now? Did that work?"

Linhardt nodded, but immediately rolled over and threw up, coughing up the few flowers that remained in his lungs. 

Caspar held back his hair, rubbing his back. "It's okay, you're alright," he muttered, probably more to calm himself than to reassure Linhardt. "I love you. You're okay."

-

Two days later was their first date, which was really just a quick trip to town. Linhardt walked past a vendor selling flowers while Caspar was bargaining for weapons, and he when he saw a small bouquet of a certain type of flowers, he had to get them for Caspar. They were gladiolus flowers, in pinks and purples and oranges, with the gem being the one in the center. Bright blue gladiolus flowers.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments, kudos, and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated!!


End file.
